[Department of Interior Request for Review of Mistake in Bid Claim]

The Department of the Interior requested a review of a contractor's claim of a bid mistake, stating that before the award, the bidder alleged that it misunderstood a subcontractor's quotation for a portion of the work, but agreed to perform the contract at its bid price with the stipulation that the Comptroller General review the matter. GAO held that: (1) correction of a bid error was allowable provided that there was clear and convincing evidence that the intended bid would fall within a narrow range of uncertainty and remain low after correction; (2) correction should be limited to increasing the contract price to reflect the bottom of the range of uncertainty; and (3) correction should be disallowed if the corrected bid was too close to the next low bid. GAO found that the alleged intended bid price was approximately 20 percent less than the next low bid; therefore, it fell within the narrow range of uncertainty. Accordingly, GAO recommended that Interior reform the contract to reflect an increase in the extended price which represented the bottom of the range of uncertainty.